By Papua New Guinea correspondent Marian Faa and Theckla Gunga in Port Moresby, ABC
Photo: ABC News / Marian Faa
Warning: This story contains detailed descriptions of violence and sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.
Fiona (not her real name) still remembers roaming the streets of Port Moresby in the dark, hungry and with nowhere to go after her husband beat her up and kicked her out of the house.
She was in a desperate situation, too ashamed to reach out to anyone she knew to help her and unable to return home to her partner.
"I was so hungry because I had not eaten all day," she told the ABC.
"I didn't have any money. I wanted to ask someone to buy me food, but I was too ashamed."
It was another torturous night in a years-long cycle of abuse that Fiona could not see a way out of.
Her partner would often get drunk and abuse her. He kept weapons in the house, she said, including a knife, a belt and a rubber hose - which he would use to assault her if she refused to have sex with him.
"He would lock the door so I couldn't get out," she said.
"He would pick me up and throw me down to the floor.
"Sometimes I would get confused because he had kicked and hit my head.
"I just cry because as women, our body isn't strong."
Fiona also experienced violence in her first marriage, when her husband would hit her occasionally.
She said he believed it was a form of
Continue Reading on RNZ
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.